1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of garment tunnel finishers for use in the laundering industry, and more particularly, to a garment tunnel finisher that utilizes atomized hot water mixed with hot air in a moisturizing zone of the finisher to treat fabric as opposed to steam used in conventional tunnel finishers.
2. Background of the Invention
Known to those skilled in the art, tunnel finishers are used in the laundering industry to remove wrinkles set into garments, and generally include a predefined conveyor pathway along which garments travel through a series of interconnected tunnels where moisture is applied to and then evaporated from the garments in order to remove wrinkles. Conventional tunnel finishers typically first include a moisturizing, or “steaming”, zone along their conveyor pathway in which steam is directed to the garments to moisturize the fibers and release the wrinkles, followed by a hot air zone in which the moisture is evaporated from the garments and the garments are dried. In conventional tunnel finishers, the moisturizing medium is typically steam and is applied to the garments in the moisturizing zone.
The use of steam as the moisturizing medium in conventional tunnel finishers disadvantageously requires an on-site boiler system for steam production, associated piping to deliver steam from the boiler to the injection site, condensate return lines, maintenance of steam traps and check valves, and often times requires a stationary engineer to be present on-site to monitor the operation of the boiler system, collectively leading to high installation, operating and maintenance costs. Further, using steam to bring the temperature of the garments in the moisturizing zone to a desired temperature (e.g. about 160 degrees F.) requires great energy and cost.
Therefore, what is desired is an alternative moisturizing medium that overcomes the disadvantages of using steam while advantageously bringing the garment fabrics up to temperature quickly while conserving energy and costs.